Encyclopedia

DRIVERS: WILSON FITTIPALDI JR

The elder brother of twice World Champion and Indy 500 winner Emerson, Wilson Fittipaldi - named after his father, a respected Brazilian motorsport journalist who also raced production cars with his wife just after the war - displayed a respectable turn of speed in a works Brabham for two seasons (1972-73) before returning to Brazil to mastermind the Copersucar-backed Fittipaldi team. He drove for the "family firm" in 1975 before retiring to hand over to Emerson the following year. Thereafter he groomed the family's business interests, which included a Mercedes-Benz distributorship, as well as guiding the career of his son Christian.